MOH Says 4th Wuhan Virus Patient Has Been on Public Transport, VivoCity & USS But Risk of Infection is Low

Yesterday night, it was revealed that a 4th Wuhan virus patient has been confirmed, and he is currently being treated in an isolation ward in Sengkang General Hospital.

Today, more details pertaining to his whereabouts before he got admitted are revealed, though it’s not mentioned why he has been warded in Sengkang General Hospital instead of a hospital that’s closer to where he stayed, like Singapore General Hospital or Tan Tock Seng Hospital.

About the 4th Wuhan Virus Patient in Singapore

The 4th patient, a 36-year-old man from Wuhan, had landed on Singapore with his family on 22 January 2020—one day before the Wuhan lockdown.

The man showed no symptom on that day, and passed the temperature screening. However, on the next day, he started to develop a cough.

The man had only gone to Sengkang General Hospital A&E the next day (on 24 January 2020, which is Chinese New Year eve).

He had then stayed in Village Hotel Sentosa.

The hotel has since isolated seven staff members that had close contact with the patient and blocked off the rooms he and his family had stayed in.

MOH Says 4th Wuhan Virus Patient Has Been on Public Transport, VivoCity & USS But Risk of Infection is Low

In a new media release, MOH revealed more information about the 4th patient.

The patient had apparently been to Universal Studios Singapore and VivoCity. In addition, he had taken public transport, including taxi. MOH did not reveal what public transport it is.

However, MOH added that the “risk of infection from transient contact, such as on public transport or public spaces, is assessed to be low.”

So don’t panic if you’ve been to VivoCity or USS on 22 to 24 January 2020; just remember to continue to observe good personal hygiene and don’t anyhowly eat those community cats roaming at the void deck.

The goody news is that for the entirety of 26 January 2020, there has been no new confirmed case—an improvement from the last three days (the last case was confirmed on 25 January late night and announced on 26 January early morning).

Contact Tracing For Confirmed Cases Ongoing

MOH also updated us about the status of their contact tracing efforts.

As of 26 January 2020 noon, they have identified 115 close contacts from the four confirmed cases. 86 of them are still in Singapore, and out of these people, 66 of them have been contacted and are being quarantined or isolated.

MOH is still trying to contact the remaining 20 close contacts.

These people would be quarantined for 14 days from their last exposure to the patient. A quarantine zone using existing Government-owned chalets have been prepared for these people.

And as usual, MOH reminds us about this:

As of 26 January noon, there are 42 remaining suspects.

Let’s continue this fight with more zero-case days.

For the latest update, follow MOH’s website here.